No Day But Today
by xxtigergirlxx
Summary: When the Animorphs learn that there is no hope in fighting, they are taken to the future of their planet. There, the Yeerks have taken control and all humans.. and Andalites.. are controllers. But the war isn't over.. it's only just begun.Chapter 12 is up
1. The War Effort

I Was Wrong

**Jake**

Hey. The name's Jake. But I guess you guys already know that.

Actually, I really _hope_ you know that, because I'm not in any position to be spilling my secrets to you strangers. I'm not going to give you any of the 'it's too dangerous' crap that I used to say.

Yeah, that's right. _Used_ to. As in 'no longer'.

You see, it's been 27 years since the Yeerks discovered who we were. What we were. 10 years after that, I guess you could say that the war ended. Marco, Aximili, and Rachel were all captured and made into controllers. Tobias was then killed and _eaten._

Just like Elfangor.

But I guess that's what he would have wanted. To die a hero just like his father would have been a privilege for him. When the Yeerks invaded the Hork-Bajir valley, Toby and the others were slaughtered and any survivors were taken to the Yeerk pool.

Cassie and I had nowhere to run. We had nowhere to hide. The Yeerks knew where we lived, and they then knew of every hiding place we could have possibly used. So, eventually, after 3 months of running, we too we're taken to the Pool.

Visser One then tortured me every day for the 5 months I was there. But finally I escaped. I ran from my captors but unfortunately, Cassie died from a poisonous gas that had "accidentally flowed into her cage" as the Yeerks explained it.

So now I'm back on the run. I have been for 16 years. But like I said earlier; you could say that the war effort ended 15 years ago.

But it hasn't. As long as I'm alive, there's hope.


	2. The Ellimist

**Marco**

It was the last day of school. What more can I say? People were acting nuts; littering classrooms with food and drink, chatting consistently in the halls, and of course having a HUGE shaving cream fight after school.

And I was so gonna be a part of it.

"Come on Jake! Everyone's gonna be there!" I whined. We were in Cassie's barn. Yeah, the big building that acts as a home for horses, cows, and smelly little pigs. Of course, Cassie's parents don't own a normal barn. Oh no. They had to go over the top.

Her parents are both vets and her barn is actually the WRC. (That stands for Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic) Their family finds injured animals on the side of the road or in the woods and nurses it back to health in their barn.

Let's see what we've got today: A burnt badger, two disease ridden bats, three deer with broken limbs and such, four insanely hungry wolves, and FIVE RABID SQUIRRELS!! **((Twelve days of Christmas, only backwards. Haha :P)**

Sorry, I tend to break out in song every once and a while.

Anyways, Jake was insisting on holding a meeting during the shaving cream fight. He said 'Erek had news that could be important information about the war'. Yes, Jake. COULD be.

Jake shook his head. "Marco, you know where I stand with this. I'm not budging." He told me sternly, crossing his arms over his chest like he does when he's ticked off. I whimpered and gave him my signature puppy dog face.

Nothing. Not even a twitch.

"Jake, Marco's right. We need to have a break. We've been diving into battles for almost two weeks straight without coming up for air." Rachel agreed. Jake's face softened.

"I don't know you guys. Erek said-"

"Oh, why don't you just go and screw Erek, Jake? He never lets us have any fun!" I replied, mimicking Jake and folding my arms as well. Jake's face grew stern again.

"No, Marco. And that's final." He stated and began to walk out. Then, just as suddenly, he stopped and whipped his head to the side. He didn't move. Heck, I don't think he _breathed. _He slowly turned to face us again. His face was pale.

"Do you guys hear that?" He asked with wide eyes. I listened. When I didn't hear anything, I grew impatient.

"Jake, I don't hear anything. Now will you please rethink it and-" Rachel stopped dead. I think by that point everyone had realized what had taken Jake mere seconds to see. There was no sound. We were in a barn full of twenty plus animals, and there was no sound.

The animals were literally frozen in their cages.

"Ellimist." Cassie breathed. Jake just nodded, and suddenly _he_ was standing before us.

"Aww, shit!" I exclaimed.


	3. Understanding

**Jake**

**It is nice to see you as well, Marco. **The Ellimist replied. I stepped forwardshakily as he appeared before us.

"What do you want Ellimist?" I asked the small blue man. He looked at me and I immediately felt chills crawl up my spine. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. His expression turned sad in an instant and I shivered again.

"Ellimist, what's wrong?" I asked him. This time he sighed heavily and stared me in the eyes.

**It is your future. **He replied. I looked back at the others. Cassie, Marco, and Rachel all stood with wide eyes. Ax and Tobias simply looked shocked.

"What's wrong with the future _now_?" Marco asked the more powerful being. The Ellimist shook his head and walked between the six of us.

**If I remember correctly, Marco, I did not say **_**the**_** future. I merely said your future. **He replied coyly nodding to me. I literally felt the blood drain from my face. _There was something wrong with our future; my future? _I cleared my throat, but words failed me.

"There's something wrong with Jake in the future?" Cassie asked, helping me out. The Ellimist nodded. "What?"

**I cannot tell you exactly. If Crayak finds out that I was here, he will not stand for it. The rules do not forbid me to come to you when something must be changed, but they do forbid me to tell you what to change and how to change it. I must show you what I see happening, but only you can change it.**

"So, what? You're just going to plop us in the future, not tell us what's going on or what we're supposed to change, and expect that to work?" Marco asked him. The Ellimist nodded. "Oh, that's just great!" Marco said, throwing his hands in the air and walking away.

As he continued to rave, I sidled up beside the Ellimist.

"Can't you just tell me what's wrong? I mean, it is my future." I asked him quietly. The ellimist laughed sadly.

**Hopefully, if you succeed, it will no longer be your future, Jake. **He sadly replied. I nodded. Then to the entire team as a whole, he boomed, **you must understand. **Then there was a flash of bright light, and suddenly there was no barn around us.

Only nothingness.


	4. The Future

Cassie

**Cassie**

The barn was gone. The grass was gone. The forest behind my house was gone. I sat down in a stage of shock and buried my face in my hands. This was where I had grown up. This was the place that I had played in the grass which had now been reduced to ash.

I felt an arm slip around my shoulder and someone pull me tight against them. I looked up to see Jake smiling sadly down on me. He urged me to stand and I could clearly see the damage done.

There were no trees, no vegetation, anywhere at all. The ground had been reduced to smoldering ash and metal debris and there were lava craters everywhere. I saw no civilization and no people as far as my eyesight allowed. But there was one thing that scared me the most.

There were no animals.

I scanned the sky in hopes of seeing a hawk or sparrow fly briskly by, but there was nothing. Not even the oh-so-familiar ant and spiders. I leaned into Jake and he pulled me into a hug, realizing what I had already seen.

"Cassie, it's okay." He soothed. "Remember, we're gonna change this. None of this will be here in our future." I shivered. We would change this, he was right.

"What kind of sick monsters would do such a horrible thing?" I said aloud to know one in particular.

"I bet I know." Marco replied dryly. I looked at the others. They all looked as mad as I probably did. This was, after all, our home. But then something caught my eye.

"Tobias? Why are you human?" I asked. He looked at me, then at Jake.

"Jake thinks it's a good idea for everyone to be human. We haven't seen the occasional hawk flying around yet so… yeah." He replied, shrugging. "But while I was still a hawk, I caught a glimpse of what looked like buildings over in the east a ways." Jake nodded.

"Okay, good. Then that's the direction we go." He said.


	5. The Flyer

**Marco**

We had been walking for what seemed like years before we finally spotted civilization. By this time, we had figured out that all of us were dressed in what looked like a garbage bag wrapped in tinfoil. Even Ax's human morph was wearing this same apparel.

Jake decided that this was our "future wear" which the Ellimist must have given us in order to blend in. I looked up, away from the charred ground, and noticed what looked like a small flyer rolling towards us.

It might've been a newspaper. I guess that was why I grabbed it; to see if there was a date on it.

But it wasn't a newspaper.

It was a small sheet of white paper, like computer paper. The ink on it was smudged and distorted, but the picture was clear as day.

It was a single portrait of a man who looked to be in his late thirties. He had wild, brown eyes and short, dark brown hair which looked as though it hadn't been combed in a long time. His shirt was ragged, worn, and ripped in several places. The white threads had been thoroughly been stained with blood; some old but most was new.

He looked completely normal, other than a nine-inch scar that ran halfway down the right side of his face. It was the only distinguishable ting about him. Other than the scar, and his wicked grey eye, he could've been Brad Pitt!

Then I noticed something. The part of the paper that wasn't smeared was written neatly in English. I read over it carefully and stopped when I realized that this guy was wanted for 100,000,000 dollars and a raise of 45 pys. (whatever that was) All I knew is that someone was going to pay top dollar for this guy and I wanted to know why.

Unfortunately the description was smeared, so I couldn't make out what it said. I stopped walking as I tried to make out the words. I guess Jake noticed my cease in motion because hethey all turned around and walked back.

"Marco?" Jake asked. "What's up man? What is that?" I looked up as Jake made a grab for the paper, but it was then that I saw the name clearly written at the top. It wasn't smudged at all. It was in bold too, so you couldn't miss it. I closed my eyes, praying it would just disappear. Yet when I reopened them, the name was the same.

_Jake Berenson._

I felt my face go pale as I looked back at my best friend. He sort of smiled uncertainly at me.

"Come on, man. Hand it over." Jake ordered. I slowly gave the flyer up.

"Alright, but trust me, Fearless Leader; you ain't going to like it." I told him as he snatched the paper from my hand. I saw his eyes read the smeared writing and focus on the picture. I knew that he had figured it out as I had already done.

Someone wanted Jake dead. They wanted this to happen soon. If they were willing to pay 100,000,000 dollars for his capture, he must've done something extremely bad.

Which meant that I was in no hurry to meet my future friend.


	6. An Unexpected Visitor

**Rachel**

We continued to walk across the barren land. After what seemed like a few hours, Jake suggested he morph into a mixture of two of us; just to be on the safe side. A few minutes later we continued on with Jake posing as 'Cassias' (a mixture between Cassie and Tobias).

The tall, but thoroughly destroyed buildings came into view bit by bit. Soon, we were walking through the streets of our hometown of the past. It was obvious that in whatever time this was, we had lost.

"We" meaning Earth.

All visible humans were wearing the same outfits. And let me just tell you: It was fashion _suicide._ Marco pointed to a tall tower a ways off.

"At least some things are the same. That's the EGS tower." He stated, dryly. Cassie tilted her head from side to side.

"Oh, yeah." She agreed. "If you can see passed all of those craters in the side of it, I guess it does look like the EGS tower." Tobias and I laughed. I personally couldn't see that hunk of torn down metal as being the EGS tower even after all those years. Jake remained silent. I was pretty sure he was occupying himself with something else.

Ax looked to where Marco had pointed.

"Ah, yes. Yah. Yah. Esss. Seh. I do see this structure more clearly now. Ow. Nuh." He replied. Suddenly I heard a loud groan from overhead. Not a human groan, like a machine that can't support a large weight. I looked up in time to see what looked like a bug fighter come spiraling down.

Straight. At. Me.

"AHHHHH!" I screamed, raising my hands high in defense. I felt someone grab me quickly around the waist and hurtle me out of the way. The wind was instantly knocked out of me, and my chest was on fire. Tobias kept his arms secure around me until he was certain I was out of harms way.

I looked into his deep blue eyes. "Thanks." I said quickly, before getting up to look for the others. I would have kissed him, he did save my life after all, but something in my gut told me that this was not the time or place to have a make out session.

HOORROOAR! I turned sharply to face my attacker and had just enough time to duck before a male Siberian tiger sailed over my head. I looked behind me. There had been two Hork-Bajir following me without my noticing. In a split second they were no longer there.

My savior slowly demorphed, standing up as he came. He wore a pair of loose kaki pants with a white tank that was stained thoroughly with dirt and blood. As I lay trembling on the ground, he walked over and stood before me. I looked into his deep serious eyes, and immediately knew who he was.

Then I did something I rarely ever do. I began to cry. I began to cry because of what had become of my once handsome cousin. I cried because I was so scared as a result of my near-death experience.

And with a trembling voice, I managed to say, "Jake, what happened?" Before my entire world went dark.


	7. Reunion

**Cassie**

I woke with a start. I sat up quickly then slowly laid back down as my head throbbed with pain. I shut my eyes tight, then, ignoring the pain, stood up slowly.

I wobbled dizzily for a moment, and then glanced around at my surroundings. There were dark, stone walls all around me and a tunnel that led away from me. Cold and damp wrapped around me and I shivered. I was in some sort of a cave.

And I was alone.

I put my head in my hands as I sat down on a nearby rock. If you want to hear a bad situation, here it is: you're stuck in a cave in the future with no clue how to get back to your own time. Outside, there is a race of parasitic aliens just waiting to murder you, and inside, there is just an empty darkness.

Oh yeah, and you're ALONE!

I gathered up my strength and after a minute or so stood back up and raced off to find the others. I tried to think back to what had happened before.

"_Ah, yes. Yah. Yah. Esss. Seh. I do see this structure more clearly now. Ow. Nuh." Ax said. Suddenly we all heard a loud groan from overhead. I looked up in time to see a large black machine come spiraling down._

._Then, darkness._

I stopped running. "Rachel? Jake? Hello?" I shouted to the empty cavern. "Hello? Is anyone here? Ax? Tobias? Hello?!" There was no response. "Marco! Jake! Please, anybody!" I sank to the ground crying. They were all gone.

"I was wondering when you'd get to calling my name." A friendly voice said. I looked up quickly.

"Marco!" I exclaimed and raced towards him. Before he could object, I wrapped him in a tight hug. I held him out at arms length. "Where are the others? How did we get here? Where is here?" Marco pushed me off of him.

"Don't know, don't know, and I have no idea." He replied, stretching out his arms. My face fell.

"Oh." Was all I could muster out of my broken heart. Marco's face fell as well.

"So you haven't seen them either?" He asked. I shook my head in response and he sighed deeply. Just then, I heard a deep moan. Actually I didn't really hear it. It was thought-spoken so I thought it?

Marco glanced at me. "Did you-?"

"Yup?"

"So-?"

"Uh-huh!" We both quickly turned on our heels and ran back the way I had originally come. We kept sprinting in the direction of the thought-moaning and eventually came to a small clearing outside of the large tunnel. Before us, lay Ax and Tobias (who was unconscious). From what we could see, Ax's left hind leg was badly injured.

"Ax!" Marco and I exclaimed simultaneously. We began to walk towards him, but he raised his tail in defense. I came to a stop.

"Ax, it's okay. I'm a doctor remember? I can help you." I soothed, walking towards him again. This time he emphasized the blade at the end by pointing it directly at me.

((Fool.)) He replied angrily. ((I know that my leg is broken and I can fix it myself.)) He then lowered his tail and glanced away.

"Then why did you raise your tail at us, Ax? You rarely ever do that unless we insult you." Marco joked. Ax did not reply, he just kept staring in the opposite direction.

"Oh, so now we're playing the Quiet Game? Fine! Two can play at that." Marco said hotly then turned around and gave Ax the cold shoulder. I rolled my eyes, then realized Ax wasn't just looking away, he was looking at one particular spot.

"What is it Ax?" I asked him. Marco glanced back around his shoulder curiously. "What do you see?" The Andalite blinked once, twice, and then focused his brilliant green eyes on me. Then he pointed at the rock.

I walked quietly over, unsure of what Ax had seen. Each of my footsteps seemed to echo more loudly in that cave that they had before. As I neared the boulder, I realized that there was a large gap behind it.

And there was someone _inside _of the gap.

I rounded the corner and began to shove and lift the big rock. Once enough light was shed on the body, I gasped.

"Oh my God! Jake!!"

**A/N: What do you think so far?? Review for the next chapter!!**

**Ani19: Yes… it most certainly will be.**


	8. The Guy in Kaki's

**Rachel**

I woke up in a small valley. It wasn't like those beautiful valleys you see on TV, this one was burnt to a crisp and brown with age. Noticing a very painful headache, I reached up and touched my forehead lightly with my hand. It came back bloody.

I sighed and leaned back to think. I had no idea where I was, I was in the future and from what I could tell, I was alone. I suddenly heard a twig snap behind me. I sat up quickly and turned to face my attacker.

It was the guy in Kaki's.

"I see you've finally woken up." He said grimly. I lowered my hands as he stepped forward.

"Are you-?" I began, then stopped feeling the tears come to my eyes. I couldn't finish. I knew what his answer would be and I didn't want to hear it. He searched my eyes, prodding me.

"Jake? Your cousin?" He asked me. I looked at him with curiosity. "Yes, I am." He said. "It's nice to see you again, Rach." He said gladly, though there wasn't even a hint of a smile on his face.

"Come." He ordered, jerking his head in the direction of the rising sun. "You've been out for a few hours, which we could've spent looking for your friends." He offered my his roughly calloused hand. "You coming?"

I took it and stood up. "Most definitely." I smiled.


	9. Jake and Cassie

**ATTENTION: This chapter forward may display inappropriate content for some of our younger readers. The following is rated PG-13.**

**Marco**

"Marco, give me your shirt!"

"Here."

"Good. Now, Ax, I need you to make a small incision right here. No. _Here._"

((Like this?))

"No y- oh well. Marco, help me with this."

Jake was looking way bad. According to Cassie, he had fractured all of his left ribs, broken his right leg and wrist, bruised his liver, and punctured a kidney. Not good. Ax's leg was confirmed broken, and he had morphed and demorphed before our little episode of ER began.

"Okay Marco, now hold this here… right here. That's right! Now one, two… three… Done! We did it!" Cassie exclaimed, tying the final bandage around a nasty cut on his head. By this time, Ax's fur was a lovely violet in color, and both Cassie and I were soaked in blood.

Cassie sat back on her heels and took a few deep breaths. We had had to use both of our shirts as bandages so she was sitting next to me in her spandex and bra. And nothing else. Her breasts rose and fell with each inhale she took, and I could not help but stare.

Cassie really was a prize with her shirt off. She was wearing a light peach, lace bra that really accented her skin tone. And her abs were absolutely fabulous from working in the- what am I saying?

I shook my head, clearing it of the crazy thought. Cassie was Jake's girl- _is_ Jake's girl, I can't come between them. But, God, if that blood on her chest were water… No! Stop it, Marco! Get a hold on yourself! I shut my eyes tight and watched her stand up slowly when I reopened them.

"I guess we better wait for Jake and Tobias to wake up, huh?" She asked me. I quickly averted her gaze, not wanting her to catch me staring. I cleared my throat.

"Uh, Yeah." I replied. I glanced back at her as she looked quickly around. She turned to Ax and whispered something to him. Then she turned to me.

"Marco, have you seen Rachel?" She asked. I shook my head in response.

"No, why?" I asked her, my brow beginning to furrow.

"Because everyone's here besides her." She practically shrieked. She went over to a stalagmite and gathered some water off of it and quickly threw it in Jake's face. He spluttered and sat up quickly, then passed out from the pain again.

"Shit!" Cassie swore. I raised my eyebrows. I had never heard Cassie utter so mush as freakin'. She glanced at me and covered her mouth. "Sorry." She apologized.

"No, no, it's alright. I'm just not used to you swearing is all." I replied. She laughed at that. We both turned as we heard a groan from Jake. He slowly rose into a sitting position holding his left side.

"Ugh, where am I?" He asked aloud. I skipped forward.

"You're in Fairytopia!" I sang. He rolled his eyes and looked around at our new home. When his eyes fell on Cassie, he blushed and looked away quickly. I looked over and noticed Cassie blushing as well and trying her best to cover up.

Funny, she didn't cover up for me.

"We had to use both of our shirts as bandages for you." She mumbled feebly. Jake nodded, still avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." He replied. I could tell it was about to get really awkward so I decided to make small talk with the Ax-man. Around an hour or so later, Tobias finally woke up and gave Cassie his shirt to put on. It fell down to her knees, but hey, it was better than nothing.

We started off down the cave, making small talk as we walked; mostly to avoid the awkward subject of Cassie in her bra. We soon arrived at a three-tunnel split in the road.

"So, which way Fearless Leader?" I asked.


	10. The Nine Inch Scar

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Animorphs!!**

* * *

**Jake**

After taking a moment to think, I chose the tunnel on the left. My motto had always been: when in doubt, go left. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm left handed or because my bedroom is on the left side of our house.

I didn't know what was down any of the three tunnels, so my best guess was that they all led to the same place. We all walked slowly down the rock tunnel. As of right now, we had no idea where we were, what the date was, or what we were supposed to change.

((Prince Jake.)) Ax pardoned. ((Excuse me but I believe my inner time sense is now returning. Your planet spins much more quickly in this year.)) I exhaled slowly and stopped walking.

"So how long are our days?" I asked him.

((They are approximately six of your hours shorter.)) Ax responded. I rubbed my temples.

"Eighteen hour days?" Marco asked. "Sweet! So what year is it, Ax-man?" Ax shook his head.

((My clock system has not yet fully adjusted to this time period. It will take a few more hours for it to be completely tracked and-)) I cut him off.

"Shh!" I cautioned. "Do you guys here that?" The others stopped and listened for a few seconds before we heard it again. _Thud-thud-thud-thud_.

"Footsteps." Cassie whispered. Marco and Tobias nodded in reply. "If we act natural, like we belong, maybe they'll mistake us for Controllers." She thought aloud. We all agreed that it was a good idea, and went walking forwards in a single-filed line like so many others had done.

We got to another one of those rooms in the cavern and stopped slowly, expecting to see some big burly Hork-Bajir guarding a concealed Yeerk pool.

What we didn't expect was to see Rachel, facing in the opposite direction.

"I don't think they're here. Let's go and look somewhere else." She was quietly pleading to no one in particular. Marco whispered something about Rachel finally losing it and I smacked him upside the head. The noise loudly echoed on the high walls.

Rachel turned quickly and broke into a large grin. "Guys!" She screamed happily and ran towards us. We all welcomed her back with a large group hug which even Ax participated in.

"He said that you would be in here. He led me through the caves and I've been following him all this time but I never thought he knew where he was going!" She sobbed.

"Who's he?" Marco asked her. She gazed at him with genuine confusion.

"Jake. He's right behind me." She replied turning around. "Or at least he was right behind me." I saw Ax give her a quick but skeptical glance. "You guys, he was right here. He brought me to this large valley behind some mountains and led me here to find all of you!"

"Wait. You saw Jake?" Cassie questioned. "Aren't we supposed to find him and help him out with his life?" Rachel nodded.

"Yeah. He saved me from the two controllers who almost sliced and diced me!" She told us.

"Are you sure Rachel? I mean, you might've hit your head pretty hard back there." Marco asked. Rachel shot him a glare. I could tell, the rest of the Animorphs wanted to believe her but they were still a little skeptical. But I knew how to prove it.

"What did he look like?" I asked her. Marco threw up his hands.

"Like that'll make a difference! There's probably a million people who look like an older you, Jake, and- oh!" He ranted, finally getting what I meant.

"Well, he was tall, dirty, and handsome." She began. "He was really tough, like not body-builder strong, but like 'I can take care of myself and get my own food' kind of toughness. He had lots of cuts and bruises everywhere and had dark, serious eyes; like Jake's; and long, shaggy hair that obviously hadn't been combed in a while." She laughed. "He was wearing brown, kaki pants and a white muscle shirt that was stained with blood."

"What about a scar?" Marco asked.

"A scar?" She replied, looking confused.

"Yeah, this guy, did he have a nine-inch scar running down the left side of his face?" I asked. Rachel's face immediately brightened.

"Yeah! He did! He was also blind in his left eye!" She exclaimed. I looked at Marco and nodded. He slowly inched out the flyer he had kept in his jacket pocket.

"You've seen him too, then?" she asked us brightly.

"No, not in person. But Marco found this a little while after we got here." I said handing her the paper. Her face brightened more and more as she read it.

"He was talking about this." She told us. "He told me that he is the only free human in the universe left alive. And when I asked about the rest of us, he wouldn't talk." She summarized, placing the paper neatly on the ground.

"Why wouldn't he talk, I wonder?" Tobias asked us.

"Well, remember, the Ellimist told us that something was wrong with Jake's future? Something really bad probably happened to us that he doesn't want to talk about right now." Cassie guessed. I nodded.

"So, if we're supposed to help him then where is he?" Marco wondered.

"Try looking behind you." Came a deep voice.

**A/N: wow this chapter was lonng!! Haha.. Uhm so yeah anyways to….**

**ani19: this WILL NOT become a marco/cassie fic!! That's gross! I was just trying to keep it in character. I mean do you honestly believe that Cassie would have her shirt off and Marco ****wouldn't**** be staring?? **

**AKW: yeah it did get awkward, and this is going to turn into major JC so you ****know**** what Jake was thinking…. Lol. Gross.**


	11. Cave In

**Jake**

There he was. He looked just like I'd seen him in the picture, only with more cuts and less hair. He still wore that stained muscle shirt and kaki pants, just like Rachel had said, and his calloused feet were torn bloody from lack of shoes.

There were some similarities between him and I. He still had my dark, serious eyes and shaggy brown hair, but one of his eyes was now grey and his hair had been cut short. I opened my mouth to speak but words failed me. I had thought this entire time about what I would say to him if and when we met, but now that the time had come I was at a loss.

The others seemed equally shocked. Marco was simply staring in awe at the man who long ago was his best friend, and I was a little worried that Cassie's jaw would soon touch the floor.

The older man seemed to notice that not of us were about to speak up and he chuckled slightly. Laughter came from deep within his chest but I never saw his face move. He never smiled; never showed us anything other than his mercilessly cold expression. He jerked his head, signaling for us to follow him further into the cave.

"Come with me." Came his hoarse, ragged voice. "I want to show you… everything." He then turned and walked away from us. I looked at the others to find that they were all looking at me too. I shrugged and ran to catch up with him.

I didn't say anything for a long time. What could I say? I was decades into the future and had just spontaneously met _myself_. I took a deep breath and then began.

"So…" I said. He looked down at me with weary, omniscient eyes and waited for my brilliant speech. "You're me, right?" He searched my eyes, as if to say 'are you kidding me?' then laughed again. This time I thought I saw the hint of a smile on his old, war-torn face.

"Yes," He replied calmly. "I am." I nodded. We continued to walk and soon the others caught up to us hoping to hear the incredible conversation between the two Jakes. There were no words exchanged however, I wish there had been. I wanted to know about the others, where they were, why he wouldn't talk about them.

"If you want to ask me something, then do so, Jake." The man said quite suddenly. I was taken aback. How had he known? I cleared my throat quietly, feeling foolish and embarrassed.

"Uhm, well I was sort of wondering, I mean, you're here… so, where are the others?" I asked him hesitantly. I looked over and saw him close his eyes and sigh deeply. He was making it obvious that I had opened a wound. He didn't say anything for a long time, and then slowly began to speak.

"It's been Twenty-seven years since the Yeerks found out that we were human. They destroyed our homes before any of us could save the people inside of them. The Yeerks terrorized our town and everyone who knew us well. They searched hungrily for information on our whereabouts and for ten years we kept it that way. We stayed in the Hork-Bajir valley which was well protected by the Ellimist. The Yeerks searched again and again, but never found us."

"What happened after ten years?" Cassie suddenly asked. I hadn't been aware that they had been listening. But the old man didn't seem to mind and continued with his story.

"We were in a terrible battle on the night of January 26th. It was held in the very center of our town and many buildings were destroyed as a result. It was an open war now. The Yeerks would do anything and everything to conquer Earth at that point. Many Controllers were killed on that night, and I feared that it would affect our moral if we fought any more, so I ordered a retreat."

"Only after we had left did I notice only four of us were there. Marco and Rachel were missing, and from the sky, Tobias could see them being hauled away. Cassie was yelling at me to do something, but there was nothing that could be done. Going back for them was suicide."

"We returned to the valley and Tobias refused to talk to me after that. Cassie was angry and confused and Ax admitted he was disappointed. I let their thoughts towards me get in the way of my tactics and from the on it was all down hill."

"We hadn't even thought that Rachel and Marco would be infested, we assumed they had been killed outright. But the Yeerks wanted us all dead, so they used our knowledge against us. They found the valley and quickly destroyed it, burning all free Hork-Bajir to the ground. Ax and Tobias were also captured and all four of our friends were killed."

"Cassie and I, having no where to run, were captured only months later. While Cassie was killed quickly, Visser Three refused to grant me the pleasure of a painless death. He tortured me night and day for no reason, forcing me to suffer through the rest of my short life. But after two years, I began to just not care. All other Animorphs were gone and I had absolutely no one on my side. Even those who were free wouldn't stand by me once they saw how pathetic I looked."

"How did you get out?" Marco asked from behind me. The man's cold gaze slowly turned on my friend. He then turned around and continued walking.

"There was a riot one day. Many of the free humans began jeering at the controllers. It got bad very quickly, the people began throwing things at the Yeerks in the pool and in the confusion, someone tripped over the lever that opened our cages. Fighting broke out instantly and I snuck out through the doorway." He replied simply.

"You escaped just like that?" Cassie asked, skeptically.

"I never said that." He laughed. He turned around and traced his long scar with his hand. "This is a reminder of my escape that will never let me forget my capture. Visser Three saw me and tried to stop me, but the crowd was too large and I was too fast. He finally began to catch up as I was sprinting out the exit, but all he could do was lash out with his tail to try to slow me down." He pointed again to the scar.

"It sunk in deep, penetrating an important nerve. I was instantly blinded in my left eye, but I somehow managed to find my way out of that hell pit and to somewhere safe where I spent the night without being found. And I've been crisscrossing the world ever since."

We arrived in another HUGE cavern. But this one was much different, more civilized. I guessed right away that this was where our friend had been staying for the past few days.

Cassie curiously walked over to one of the many doors while the rest of us stared dumbly at the wall of weapons.

"Whoa." Marco said in awe. He walked right over to the casings and instantly picked out a solid gold handheld pistol. He turned to Big Jake with a huge smile on his face.

"What does this one do?" He asked eagerly. Jake clasped his hands together and shrugged uncaringly.

"Shoot it and find out." He replied calmly. Marco's eyes grew to the size of large dinner plates. Rachel looked completely shocked.

"Are you serious?" Marco asked in disbelief. "I can try it out?" Jake just shrugged his shoulders again.

"Only if you want to." Marco eagerly grabbed the gun from the glass case and held it gingerly in his hands as though it were a fragile glass angel. He gripped the gun tightly in his hands and rested his index finger gently on the trigger.

"Marco, I don't think-" I began, but it was too late. He pulled the trigger and the force of it sent him flying backwards. The makeshift bullet hit the wall on the other side of the room and we heard a low rumbling almost instantaneously.

Cassie, who had been oblivious to all the fuss, was now in the direct path of the falling rocks.

"Cassie!" I yelled. "Look out!" I raced towards her and in an instant wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to the ground, out of harm's way. I quickly covered my head as we were pelted with millions of small pebbles and shut my eyes tightly.

Then, everything stopped and there was silence.


	12. The Crystal Room

**Warning: This chapter is rated R because it displays some mature content. People of age 13 and younger, get outta here!!**

**Jake**

As the crashing sounds quieted, I got off of Cassie and looked around without a word. There were two makeshift doors behind us and a third which was sealed off by a large pile of cave rocks. On the other end, there was a large wall of rocks which cut us off from the exit.

We were trapped.

I heard a groan. I turned around as Cassie slowly sat up grasping her head tightly. I ran to her and pulled her up by her small waist. I quickly made a note of how extremely beautiful she was.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, gazing into her eyes and feeling her body appropriately to check for broken bones. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "No, I-I think I just hit my head too hard." She replied dizzily. I smiled, relieved that she was alright and to my surprise she smiled back. I grasped her hands and helped her into a standing position.

"Where are the others?" she asked me. I shrugged and searched. Had they been trapped beneath?

"Guys?" I called. I could hear their muffled responses coming from beyond the rock wall. They hadn't been trapped under, only behind. I began to dig through the boulder sized rocks, continuing to call out to them. After a few minutes, I must've pulled out a very important rock because twenty others from the top began to fall towards us.

"Jake?" I heard, suddenly very clearly. I looked at the wall again and there was a small peephole that had been made by the falling rocks. I scrambled up and looked through. I saw Rachel's gorgeous blue eye staring back.

"Are you okay?" I said, putting my mouth to the hole.

"Yeah Jake, we all are. Where's Cassie? Is she with you?" Rachel asked me, concerned for her best friend. I was about to respond when a new voice came through the opening.

"Jake, you need to listen to me very carefully, alright?" Came the wise, old voice. "Do you see the doors behind you?" I looked back at the makeshift doors.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Well you need to get inside the one with the purple crystals. There is a tunnel a little ways back that will take us straight to you. Once you are inside the room, do not move. The door will not reopen from the inside and you need me to get through the rest of the cave." He instructed.

"Which door is it?" I asked him, eyeing the two doors carefully. He responded that he did not know and that he never kept track of which one was which.

"But be careful you two. Do not leave the door that leads into complete darkness open." He said finally. "We'll see you in twelve hours."

My jaw dropped. "Twelve hours!" But there was no reply which led me to believe that he had already left. I turned back to Cassie who stared at me curiously.

"He says that there is a tunnel that will take them straight to one of those rooms. Jake instructed me to wait in that room." I said to her, pointing at the doorways.

"Which room?" She asked.

"The one with the purple crystals." I stated blankly. We walked over. She took the left door and slowly opened it. Though it was day and light was being cast into it, the room was pitch black.

"The door that leads into totally darkness." I said aloud to no one in particular. I had no idea what was so horrible about that room, but I had I feeling that I really did not want to find out. After I made sure the door was closed as tightly as it could be shut, I grasped the handle of the door on the right and opened it.

"Oh my-" Cassie breathed. The room was made completely of purple amethyst crystals. As the light from inside the cave hit the surface, the room gleamed brightly. I had to shut my eyes to comprehend its beauty.

Cassie walked straight into the room and touched one crystal that stuck out of the wall. She traced it with her fingers then turned back to me, smiling.

"Jake, it's gorgeous." She exclaimed.

"But I didn't make this." I protested foolishly. She walked up and grabbed my hand.

"No Jake, you haven't. But you will." She told me gently. I smiled and looked again at the room of amethyst. It really was a dazzling sight.

"Well, you know it only takes someone like me, with my superior intellect-" I teased. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, Great Leader." She replied sarcastically.

"And my excellent leadership-"

"Oh, most definitely, sir."

"And my extremely good looks."

"Most importantl- hey!" she finished punching me gently in the shoulder. "Who says you're good looking?" I pouted.

"What? Are you saying I'm not?" I asked, tickling her. She began laughing. "Well, then who is, huh? Who's better looking than me?" I continued to tickle her, until she tripped and fell onto the crystal floor with me on top.

"Jake! Stop! That tickles!" She laughed. I didn't stop.

"Not until you tell me Cassie. Hah-hah!" she laughed harder until I was pretty sure she was having trouble breathing.

"Okay! Okay! I give up, no one! No one!" she giggled. I stopped tickling her and sat back, surprised. I felt a smile creep up my face as my entire body grew numb.

"Seriously? Not even Marco?" I asked. She wrinkled her nose.

"Eww, no. He's not my type." She confessed. _Not my type. _The words repeated themselves over and over again in my head. The smile grew bigger still.

"So you're saying that I am your type?" I asked her. A look of shock spread across her face.

"N-No! I- well, I mean… you're uhm, well." She was at a loss for words. I raised an eyebrow.

"Cassie? Am I making you nervous?" I asked her seductively adding a hint of pretend-shock to my voice. I gazed into her eyes and brought my face closer to hers. She didn't say anything, just stared at me shyly as I brought my lips gently down to touch hers.

She resisted at first but then deepened the kiss and pulled my body down to her. I could feel her hands slide up the back of my shirt and begin to pull at it. I deepened the kiss, begging her for entry with my tongue.

She granted it to me and wrapped her arms around my head, pulling me closer. We broke apart for mere seconds, in which time both of our shirts were thrown carelessly on the ground. I slid my hands up her sides to unsnap her bra and caress her full breasts. I kissed them softly, sending shivers up her spine, and she carefully undid the zipper on my shorts and pulled them and my boxers off completely. I planted kisses along her jaw line as I removed her jeans and the only thing between us.

"Cassie," I breathed against her lips. "Are you sure? Are you sure you want this?" I asked, kissing her passionately again. She shivered and placed her hands on my chest, nodding.

I slowly entered her and she gave a shuddering gasp. I began to move inside of her and she groaned with pleasure.

"Jake… Jake, uh JAKE!" she screamed my name over and over as I made love to her in that beautiful crystal room. When it was over, I slowly slid off of her and she leaned into me, breathing deeply but smiling.

"It's beautiful." Cassie whispered against my chest. I stroked her hair lovingly.

"Yes," I replied, "you are."


	13. The Hint of a Smile

_I am so sorry for the wait you guys! I have just been so busy with school and sports and other crap but here it is… chapter 12!!!_

**Marco**

Our footsteps echoed down the narrow path as we trudged on through the cave. The others were eager and curious to meet our future leader, but I had my doubts. As we walked, I continually glanced at his war-torn face and thought back on what Rachel had said earlier. About how he was the only free human in the universe.

"Marco? Is something wrong?" The rough voice wrenched me out of my thoughts and brought me back to reality. To my surprise, Jake was looking at me with an annoyingly emotionless face. The others were the same.

I quickly shook my head, hoping that if I didn't verbally lie, he wouldn't see through me. To my dismay, he did.

"If you want to ask me something, Marco, then do so." He stated, turning back around and walking again. "We will be there shortly."

I hesitated. "What are pyses?" I asked him shakily. He stopped abruptly, then turned and stalked towards me with an angry glare.

"How do you know about that?" His gaze bore into my skull as I quickly dug through my pockets for the crumpled paper. Once I had it, I held it in between us in some form of protection.

"Where did you get that?" He seethed, ripping the paper from my hands. I explained to him about how I had found it lying on the ground during our travel. Jake was silent for a long time, and I contemplated whether I should have just kept my big mouth shut.

"They are promotions." He answered finally. "It stands for the term Putheyaderaphs. All Yeerk units use this system to figure out rewards for certain achievements. A raise of 45 pyses is incredible to a low-ranking Yeerk."

"H-how incredible?" Cassie asked. He didn't turn around, he never blinked.

"During your time, if the one you call Visser Three would achieve this promotion, he would exceed the Council in terms of power. He would be the Yeerk's supreme ruler, much as he is now." He then sauntered forward, leaving us behind.

I quickly shot a 'what can we do' glance at the others and hurried to catch up. After a few more minutes of walking we came to a dead end. I groaned and began to walk numbly back the way we had come.

That's when Jake ran his fingers over the wall and the floor began to shake. I whipped my face around as a gaping hole appeared where there was solid rock only moments ago. The tunnel was immediately flooded with a glowing purple light.

I raised my eyebrows approvingly. He shrugged, as though it was no big deal. "What? You didn't think that the only free human would be stupid did you?"

I swear, I saw the tiniest hint of a smile.


End file.
